OMG....how dare Arlene compare Rachel to Alesha Dixon Rachel does not have the talent that Alesha has in her little finger. No way is she anywhere near as entertaining, energetic, and captivating as Alesha was and will always be.

Alesha and Matthew created magic every single time they took to the dance floor and Rachel has no hope of ever coming close to one of their performances.

Rachel has no personality/ performance for me - its all very samey

Alesha was amazing

No she's not as good as Alesha but she's not far off it. Arlene was being over dramatic. She did the same last year comparing Kelly's jive to Jill's.

Why do people care if Arlene thinks that? It's her opinon, though I don't agree im not going to get upset about it.

Totally agree.

For me Rachel isn't even a Bunton

No she is not, she is Rachel. And Thank God that we have different people every year as the show would be very boring indeed otherwise.

What are you all going on about?
Rachel is brilliant.

Well, Orin, I'm not crying or thinking of jumping but the comparison was ludicrous. Just making a point.

Of course not! Rachel is by far better looking

So you believe that your own ludicrous exaggeration is the best way to make a point about Arlene's 'ludicrous' comparison do you? You canNOT be serious, man.

Rachel and Alesha are both excellent dancers by Strictly standards.

What Miss Botox face

Well said i agree.
The only thing i think Alesha excelled Rachel in was the performance or storytelling side of the dance.
Technically Rachel is fantastic.

Of course she's "no Alesha" they are completly different people. However, both women can dance; and dance well.

I thought it was a compliment to both of them. Arlene obviously sees Alesha as one to beat, and sees Rachel as a real contender.

Rachel is an excellent dancer from a technical point of view, but I still think she needs to sell the dances more, as she hasn't yet got me reaching for the phone, which I've come close to at least once for almost all the 16 couples at some stage as I have no favourite this year.

On a related subject, nailing both the technique and performance of a dance in 4 days is much easier said than done. Purists may nitpick the technical aspects of dances like Mark's AT, Alesha's chacha and even Austin's paso last night, but what made the judges whip out 3 tens in all 3 examples was the performance, and on a show like Strictly where the contestants aren't even bronze medal standard, why should we expect or demand technical accuracy? Do we really believe it takes 4 days to nail the technique of a dance like the AT? If that is the case, why do professional dancers spend years honing their skills?

Having said that, when someone nails the technical side of things, this should be rewarded in the same way. It can and should be an either/or thing - 1/2 judges looking at just technique, 2/3 looking at perfomance, and when both come together the celeb gets a perfect score.

It's unreasonable to expect a celeb to excel in the technical and perfomance aspects of latin and ballroom, and unsurprisingly none of them has thus far.

I agree, Alesha was a storyteller, could sell the dance, Rachel abilities lies in the technical side of the dance, both have their strengths and weakness.

No, she's not Alesha
Rachel is better!

Why is Alesha held in such regard?

She was not the best celebrity they've had on. Ugh!

I think what Arlene meant was that Rachel could win - just like Alesha won last series - I don't think she was actually comparing them because they are so completely unique in their own way IMO

So you think she is the only one that uses it - check out ALL the remaining ladies on the show!!

I think it is unfair to compare dancers because posters have strong opinions thus it can cause anomosity. But Rachel has improved and then a good way to make her (or anyone else) feel they are improving is to compare them to a named other person.......Catch 22?

And that is relevent how exactly?

Anyways if you want to be shallow- Alesha is definatly sexier than Rachel. Womanly curves, great attitude, warm personality, bubbly etc. Beauty is the eye of the beholder remember.Much prefer her to short skinny dead eyed ice maiden Rachel.

Sorry Rachel is 30, she probably still has a perfect complexion.

I liked Alesha.....although Kelly was my favourite last year......and by her own admission Alesha made a fair few mistakes.....but she and Mathew were brilliant at covering those mistakes and on one occasion even winging it for 20 seconds before continuing with their rehearsed routine.To the best of my knowledge Rachel has`t yet had to wing it or cover her mistakes.Rachel's a great Dancer but she lacks the charisma of Alesha.....Ms Dixon was a worthy winner last year and if Rachel takes the title this year the same could be said for her.

As soon as Arlene said that I thought "well you've just guaranteed Rachel's place in the dance off". No I don't think she's as good - she doesn't have Alesha's sparkle - the problem is this year that no one's really captured the imagination of people the way that both she and Geth and Matt or even Leticia at their best did. Love or hate it I think Austin's Paso was the first dance that really produced that sort of wow reaction from the crowd.

threads like this annoy me.
Alesha is my favourite celeb ever but i dont see the need to knock Rachel just because i prefer Alesha.
Rachel is a very good dancer and i think as others have stated that by mentioning Alesha what arlene was doing was saying Rachel could win too thats all. All the celebs this year want to following in Aleshas footsteps purely because shes the reigning champion,
Last year arelene compared Matt Di to Ramps on a few occasions. Its just what Arlene does. I also remember her comparing kellys jive to jills.